1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lug-mounted vehicle wheels. More particularly, it relates to a center cap adapter for a vehicle wheel configured to adapt a stationary or a rotatable center cap, to a wide variety of vehicle wheels through the employment of an adapter plate having a plurality of apertures therethrough positioned to locate and engage a plurality of lugs in spacing of a plurality of different vehicle lug and wheel configurations.
2. Prior Art
New vehicles delivered to car lots which are sold to buyers conventionally have been delivered with hub caps or wheel center caps which engage to the wheel. Manufacturers generally place indicia on these wheel covers which bears their name, and/or the name of the car model to which the wheel hubcap or center cap is engaged.
Frequently car owners also purchase customized wheels for their vehicles for both decorative and performance purposes. In a similar fashion to that of the car manufacturers, such customized wheels also are supplied with center caps adapted to engage with the outer facing surface of the wheel when mounted on a vehicle.
While such new vehicles and newly purchased custom wheels bear an attractive appearance when new, over time vehicle wheels live a tortuous life on the road and are exposed to weather, jarring roadways, bumps, and other hazards which will result in the loss of one or more of the original wheel centers. Theft can also play a role in the loss of such decorative wheel covering components.
Because years can pass before a vehicle owner seeks to replace missing or old and less than decorative wheel center caps, problems arise. Frequently, the vehicle will still have two or three original centers but lack a full set. However, replacements for wheel center caps, which were manufactured years in the past, are hard or impossible to obtain in many cases.
Additionally, many drivers seek to upgrade the appearance of their vehicle with the purchase of new or customized wheel centers. However, because of the infinite number of wheel surface configurations sold and available for vehicle wheels, obtaining substitute or replacement center caps configured to fit the surfaces, shapes, and openings of a particular wheel or vehicle is at best, a challenge.
Still further, many vehicle owners, in upgrading their wheels, wish to engage rotating wheel center caps to their wheels. Such rotating centers have the ability to rotate freely irrespective of the rotation of the wheel itself. Some such rotating wheel centers are weighted to maintain the center itself, and indicia thereon, in a stationary positioning relative to a rotating wheel, so as to present the indicia thereon in a readable or viewable fashion at all times. Other rotating wheel centers are sought which will continue to rotate once the vehicle wheels stop doing so.
However, much like the problem with replacing wheel-face engaging wheel centers, the mounting of rotating wheel centers is plagued with the problem of dissimilar wheel lug nut spacing and patterns. Some vehicle wheels have lug patterns which engage five lugs in a particular spacing, while others will also engage five lugs but in a different spacing thereof around the wheel and from each other. Other wheels and vehicles may have six lugs and there can be multiple spacings and patterns of this number of lugs engaging wheels also. Trying to properly place replacement center caps properly positioned in the open central area of wheels, given the huge number of potential lug and wheel configurations, becomes more challenging as more wheels become available and as older wheels become obsolete.
The consequence of this is a severe limiting of the availability of replacement wheel center caps which might be engaged within the wheel openings because of the sheer number of lug configurations, wheel configurations, and lug spacings. Further when available, because the rotating or stationary wheel centers are customized to a particular wheel or lug bolt pattern, the cost can be prohibitive due to a lack of competition.
As such, there exists an unmet need for a wheel center cap mounting system, which provides a center cap engagement, which will engage replacement or existing wheel caps in a stationary or rotating wheel mount to a wide variety of wheels. Such a device should be adapted to engage multiple lug bolt patterns in multiple spacings and provide a secure mount which maintains the wheel balance once engaged. Such a device should be easily attached to vehicle wheel mounts and provide a stable fixed or rotating mount for a wide variety of wheel caps. Such a device and system should position the wheel caps in either a rotating or stationary centered positioning, over the formed space, gap, or recess at the center of a wheel to which they engage. Further, such a device should allow for re-fitment of new wheel center caps thereon easily, and having a mount which is adapted to multiple lug bolt patterns, it should be easily transferred to another vehicle from a first.
The forgoing examples of related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the wheel center cap engagement invention and method described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art are already or will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.